Report: NARAL leader to plead guilty to felony for fleecing New York affiliate

NEW YORK, June 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kelli Conlin, former head of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, will plead guilty to felony charges of falsifying documents to cover up a major financial scandal, according to sources with YNN.

YNN’s Capital Tonight program revealed that sources have informed them that Conlin has cut a deal with the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who launched a criminal investigation against Conlin.

Conlin will plead guilty to Class E felony, and make restitution to NARAL Pro-Choice New York for all the money she fleeced from the abortion advocacy group.

Capital Tonight reports that their sources say she will serve no jail time, just probation, as part of the deal.

Back in February, Capital Tonight reported that they had obtained an exclusive copy of a forensic audit conducted for NARAL Pro Choice New York that showed Conlin had appropriated hundreds of thousands of the organization’s dollars – since at least 2008 – to fund a lavish personal lifestyle.

That audit shows Conlin used NARAL’s credit cards to purchase over $5000 in clothing from retailers like Giorgio Armani, a $17,000 summer rental in the Hamptons in 2009, and $22,000 in meals. The purchases on the company dime also included a $100,000 car service to drop off her children at school in Manhattan’s posh Upper West Side.

Sources to YNN said Conlin was fired after the revelation.

Capital Tonight also reported that Conlin’s paycheck from NARAL totaled $309,000 for 2009 – out of an annual budget of $4.5 million. They also reported that the audit shows that a number of large transactions of money that moved around NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s accounts appear dubious, and may hide other financial improprieties.

Pro-life advocate Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, jumped on Conlin’s apparent embezzlement, when the story broke, saying the incident was evidence of the corruption of abortion advocacy groups.

Conlin was a fixture at NARAL Pro-Choice New York, having led that chapter as president since 1992. Her sudden unexplained departure in January 2011 raised questions about the reasons for her leaving.

Capital Tonight adds that the New York Attorney General’s office may press civil charges against Conlin. It reports that the early resolution of the case allows NARAL’s New York chapter to avoid a messy public trial, and recover themselves as a political force in New York elections in time for 2012.